Peace and Harmony
The Idah people lived in the north of Acaria as the Adhani do today. But the Idah lived in these reaches thousands of years before the Adhani.
The Idah lived at the southern base of the northern mountain range and grew hardy crops and raised cattle. Like the Adhani, they worshiped gods, including ones that dwell in the snow-covered mountain ranges. However, the Idah feared their gods greatly and dared not venture into the mountains.
Each village was run by a council and headed by a spiritual leader called the Adesh.
They were a people at peace with each other, their surroundings and harboured no ill will to any others. This willingness to trust others first was to contribute to the devastation that befell them.
The Hunt for Magic
During the time of the Idah The Circle had risen and were hunting out any others who possessed magical abilities. They had become aware of the Idah people and, in particular, the Adesh who were rumored to have unexplained abilities to foretell the future and magically heal people.
The Circle sent agents to verify these rumors. When a few of them arrived posing as traders, they were welcomed. Being a spiritual people the Idah had long-held beliefs regarding the powers of the Adesh including how they can control the weather and remove sickness from villagers caused by evil demons.
The agents were under instructions to take no risks and so when they heard these stories, they determined to destroy the Idah people.
The Attacks
The agents decided to carry out their plan immediately - they were only fifty or so in number, but the Idah were clearly a people of peace with no obvious weaponry sufficient to repel experienced fighters.
However, they had underestimated the Idah, mistaking their peaceful ways with low intelligence. The agents initial attacks were devastating with the advantage of surprise, but the Idah soon organized themselves and rallied.
The agents retreated and then fled. But this was not the end of the matter. The paranoid Circle, now convinced the Idah represented a threat, sent back a much larger force.
The Idah fought valiantly for days but their settlements were burned to the ground and survivors pushed back to their last surviving settlement, at the base of the mountains, with nowhere else to retreat to. Their people, once numbering in the thousands, were now little more than one hundred.
The remaining leaders decided to enter the sacred mountain cave - something no Idah had ever done. Their beliefs told of cave systems beyond this entrance occupied by beasts that protected the gods far inside. They now had no choice but to face them in their failure and plead for their souls.
The Caverns
As they entered the cave the forces of the Circle closed in and during that final skirmish, the structure of the entrance was damaged and completely collapsed. Many Idah and Circle forces died and those Idah inside were blocked from ever leaving.
They moved further inside and found a cavern system that indeed went deep inside the mountain but with no sign of beasts or gods - but neither of any exit.
One huge cavern the Idah found was thickly coated in soft mosses of dull greys.
But as the daylight filtering in through the high ceilings flickered out, the mosses turned from grey to wondrous colors from almost every part of the spectrum. The display was breathtaking. A sign for the Idah not to let the light of their culture be extinguished by the darkness of their enemy.
With only meagre supplies, they would survive just a matter of days. So they set to work recording as must of their history and culture as they could on the walls of the other caves, carved with their knives and the stones that littered the floors. In this way, the Idah saved their culture from extinction.
When their work was complete they moved quietly into the moss-covered cavern, laid down clasping each other's hands, and slept.
I enjoyed reading about these peaceful people and what happened to them. The ending got to me though. Its very powerful and touching.
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it :)